The ChangingMinds Blog!

Managing managers

Management of people is not just a top-down hierarchical task -- it can go
the other way as well. Management includes helping people learn and understand.
It means getting them to do the things you want them to do and not do the things
that you believe are wrong or damaging. It means transforming situations of
conflict into collaborative searching for agreeable solutions.

My wife is a teacher who views fast-trackers and 'career' teachers (who put
their careers first) with mixed feelings at best. When their journey includes
building real teaching skills, then she is happy to discuss and demonstrate her
methods. She has little time for incompetence and even less for arrogance. When
those in more senior positions but significantly less experience and skill seek
to extend their control by instructing her in primitive methods, she has to bite
her lip hard--though she also has a way of biting those who get between her and
her teaching. She is not cantankerous, but she does know what works.

Likewise, I am happy to work with managers who are younger than me as long as
they do not consider me as 'over the hill' and unable to keep up, and hence
ignore or instruct me in the basics. I have practiced and studied business and
management more than most people and find the blind wisdom that some manager
assume both frustrating and sad. Fortunately, I have also learned about
psychology, negotiation, coaching and facilitation, which help me manage the
situation.

It is not all easy and sometimes I wonder at senior stupidity. Myopic and
selfish decision-making by people who are paid well to take a broader view can
be agonizingly damaging for the organization and its frustrated populace.

Managing upwards first means getting inside the head of those in more senior
positions, and not just your immediate boss. Seek to understand both the
personal and professional forces acting on them, the personal tensions that
these forces create and how they respond to these tensions.

People act to reduce the tensions that they feel, usually starting with the
biggest and the most uncomfortable, and they do this by using the power that
they have. One form of power that managers have is the authority vested in that
position to command people and allocate or refuse resources as they see fit.

What is often forgotten is that you, too, have significant power. You have
specalist and unique skills and knowledge. You have social connections and can
lead the opinions of others. You also have the power of compliance and active
support.

Working with your managers is not so much doing what you are told but rather
a dynamic and ongoing exchange. If you can show a concerned interest in their
needs and goals, then they will increasingly listen to your ideas. Depending on
their status and esteem needs, this process may require significant subtlety,
but when they realize that you are on their side, they will trust you more.

It needs to be a patient game. When you have earned their trust, then they
will listen more. And when they listen with trust, they will accept your ideas,
explanations and refusals as you show them better ways to succeed.

Your comments

If one of my manager didn't keep his assignments date and always delay my
requirements from him, what should I do to solve this problem?

Regards

-- Mohamed Fandies

Dave replies:
When managers do not practice what they preach and do not keep their promises,
sometimes the best way to manage this is to treat it as any other risk,
identifying mitigating actions and preparing contingencies. A good idea often is
to ensure everything is documented, for example by getting his/her comments and
changes on email. If you are later held to account, you can then highlight the
real cause.

True what Dave says, you must set clear, measurable and achievable goals.